WDW 8/15 - 8/20

Just got back from my 5 day WDW trip. Stayed at the Pop Century Resort for the fourth time now. I love this resort for many reasons. One being the fact that it's inexpensive. I use to stay at the Grand Floridian, but I really don't like that atmosphere and it doesn't seem like a kid friendly hotel. I love the food court at Pop. Many items to choose from and it's very convenient. The bus transportation is great. You never have to wait long for a bus.

The trip was going great up until saturday night when they predicted Fay would hit Florida. I was pretty concerned that the trip would be cut short way too early. No one knew exactly when it was going to hit, or what it would bring. There was little talk though about it around the resort and parks. When they finally said it was going to hit around Tuesday sometime, I knew the trip was over for sure. Since school was starting, and the storm was most likely going to hit, I thought for sure the parks were going to be DEAD. To my surprise, it was the most crowded day so far. I thought I was going to wake up to a huge storm Tuesday morning. Turns out Fay was going to just miss us, but the rain wasn't. I attempted to get a full day in at the parks, but the rain started to come down while I was at EPCOT (which was the busiest I had ever seen that park), so I headed to my hotel room for the rest of the day. I woke up wednesday (today) hoping for a nice day so I could hit a ride or two at the Studios one more time, but the rain was still falling. My bus came at 12:45PM and I headed for the airport. End of trip.

So the trip started off well, but in the end, it was just a mess. It was plagued by worries Fay would hit. She still made a nice dent in the trip even though she didn't hit directly. I'm hoping next year will be better.

Here's some reviews of new and old attractions.....

Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor - 2/5 Stars: My original plan was to skip this attraction because I had heard it wasn't that good, but since MK had EMH that night and we hit every ride in the park already, I decided to try it out. 10 minute wait only. I think this is definitely a kids only attraction. The content was just too corny. I like the fact that guests can interact with the show, but it's just not my thing.

Haunted Mansion - 5/5 Stars: Not much to say, but it really looks good since they rehabbed it.

Toy Story Midway Mania - 5/5 Stars: So my pre-review for this ride was that it wouldn't be any better than Buzz at MK. Just one of those rides you do once every trip. I waited 70 minutes and finally got to the loading platform. This ride is AMAZING. The games and scoring system is pure brilliant. Rode this 4 times the whole trip. Totally worth the wait, and Mr. Potato Head is so cool. I was impressed when he pulled his ear off and then put it back on. And I love how he interacts with the guests.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster: First time I've been back since they changed up the que line. I thought they would totally ruin it, but it actually looks nice and works very well. Single rider line is a good way to get a quick ride. I managed 11 rides the entire trip which would bring my total to 52. A long time ago it was mentioned a CM would take part in the pre show and grab Joe Perry's "Black Les Paul" when asks for it. Well I finally saw it. I walked into the pre show and 5 CM's were in the recording area messing around. They basically screwed around until Joe Perry wanted his guitar. Then they fought over it and ran out. Really ruined the pre show if it was someone's first time.

Tower of Terror: Same old Tower I love. Short waits as usual. Monday, they had one shaft running only one drop sequence. Don't know why, but WDI was walking around so they may have been up to something. It had to be the BEST drop sequence I've ever had on that ride. Four full drops from top to bottom. Rode that side all day.

Spaceship Earth - 5/5 Stars: Haven't been on it since the rehab. The new scenes and ending is great. I actually rode it twice.

A long time ago it was mentioned a CM would take part in the pre show and grab Joe Perry's "Black Les Paul" when asks for it. Well I finally saw it. I walked into the pre show and 5 CM's were in the recording area messing around. They basically screwed around until Joe Perry wanted his guitar. Then they fought over it and ran out. Really ruined the pre show if it was someone's first time.

Thats awesome! I've always wondered if they still did that. Every time I've been in the pre-show room, theres always just one CM, on the guest side of the recording studio, making sure no one uses flash on their cameras, or so no single riders jump over into the stand-by/FASTPASS line.